Apologies if this has been aired before but for me captivating stuff from the BBC archives circa 1969 featuring above others Keith Macklin ("...a game which blended the artistic with the primitive...") and the late and much lamented Brian Redhead ("..a very intelligent and intellectual game..."). He once described rugby league as 'chess with muscles'.

...union has checked the virus by controlling use of pitches, strangle hold on schools and its fierce by-laws. it considered itself as the true church & league the apostate and heretic.."

Edited by audois, 10 February 2013 - 01:04 PM.

CONTINENTAL LIGHTS - A Catalans Dragons Story

now on sale at Stade Gilbert Brutus or contact gordonderb@hotmail.com

"Written with feeling by a man on the spot." (Mike Rylance Forty 20 Magazine)

"It involves matters much greater than drafting the new rules...the original and existing games have their own powerful appeal to their players and public and have the sentiments which history inspires"
Harold 'Jersey' Flegg 1933

Have just watched part 2 to follow part 1 … totally fascinating stuff … never realised Featherstone was such a small place … watching the Featherstone boys train, couldn't but shake me head at the difference between there back then and here and now in Oz with the NRL, so slickly packaged, huge marketing, gargantuan TV deals and high wages … the total almost amatuerism of then with the likes of Featherstone v the total professionalism of RL today in Australia

Is Featherstone still like this? Is it still such a wee village? And is it still a total RL town (I presume)?

I also loved the Wigan head honchos and the Wales lads? And sign-on bonuses without tax because they were giving up their amateur status? Was that really the case???

Like I say, all totally fascinating … so very different, too, to what I saw of RL as I grew up engrossed in it here in Sydney in the 1970s.

How life has changed !

And more links to shows/docos like these would be greatly appreciated !

I suggest you google Brian Redhead. Briefly, he was a well-respected journalist and radio presenter, who never forgot his roots in the North. I knew he was connected with the Guardian newspaper, but had forgotten he was "Northern Editor" of that once-esteemed journal, and the Manchester Evening News. He did quite a bit of radio stuff, too. Basically, an old-school journo who could and did write eloquently about life, unlike many of the modern scribblers, who can barely spell, never mind construct a complex sentence.

Those Wigan scouts talking about signing up Welsh talent were fascinating and, like you, I'm deeply suspicious about the "tax-free" bit. I don't think they would get away with that today.

As for the high-tech training at Featherstone, it reminded me of our training at Whitby. However, I did meet Laurie Gant. He travelled to Whitby one evening (a 3 hour round trip from the Featherstone area, assuming he lived thereabouts) to talk to some of my students about rugby league and he was clearly in love with the game. An impressive gentleman.

I have a real fondness for that era, but comparing it to the modern game is pointless. Chalk and cheese!

yes, chalk and cheese indeed. Thanks for answering my queries. Incredible era it was, so different from today.

Also fascinating was the connection with the coal mines … amazing to see the coal mines were virtually IN the towns … are there any coal mines left in RL towns or were they all shut by Thatcher and her ilk?